


Cold Blows the Wind

by NoirSongbird



Series: Child Ballads [3]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Ballad 78: The Unquiet Grave, M/M, Porn with Feelings, Resurrection, Temporary Character Death, True Love's Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-09-07 13:32:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8802814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoirSongbird/pseuds/NoirSongbird
Summary: A year and a day after the death of his husband, Jack Morrison-Reyes pays a visit to Gabriel Reyes-Morrison's grave, and finds an unexpected visitor and a more unexpected blessing.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello hello o/ Here's the third fic in the Ballad AU, based on [The Unquiet Grave](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yii85YEd7b0). You can see what I have planned for the rest of the series [here!](http://noirsongbird.tumblr.com/post/153190784246/child-ballad-series)
> 
> A special and eternal thanks to everyone on the Overwatch Writer's Guild Discord for all the encouragement, help, beta reading, and general awesomeness y'all provide.

A year and a day.

Jack was counting; of course he was. It had been a year and a day since he and Jesse had desperately hauled Gabriel out of a chaotic hostage rescue gone _very_ wrong, and Gabriel had laid in his lap and taken his last breaths. He’d screamed for help, for Ana, and had screamed _at_ Ana when she told him there was nothing she could do.  

It was the kind of jarring, sudden death a soldier was supposed to be prepared for. The kind of thing Jack had experienced before; Gabriel wasn’t the first person he’d lost.

But Gabriel was different. Gabriel had always been different, from the minute they met in the SEP. Jack had loved him for years before they’d finally taken the plunge, and he’d _expected_ them to have years - _decades_ \- as a married couple.

All that was gone in one brief, terrible moment, in one incredibly brave act of self-sacrifice. They had been negotiating with the hostage-takers face to face, just Jack, Gabe, and Jesse, and Gabriel had seen it going bad before any of the rest of them, and he’d thrown himself between one of the hostage-takers and a group of innocent people.

He’d gotten half a dozen shots to the chest for his bravery.

Jack’s first reaction was anger. He was _furious_ that the universe had taken Gabriel from him. Furious that he hadn’t stopped it, and that there was nothing that was going to change it. He’d hung onto the anger, for a while, and directed it at the terrorist cell that had taken those hostages, at the bad intel that had sent them in blind, at everything in the whole world he could even partially blame for his husband’s death. It had given him a few weeks, a month maybe, of frenzied activity, but anger could only keep him going for so long.

Eventually he’d just hit a wall and...shut down. He ran out of anger, he ran out of fight, and all that was left was the empty knowledge that _Gabriel was gone and nothing was going to bring him back._

He tried to keep going, really he did, but he was well aware that Ana and Reinhardt were both quietly taking over an increasing number of his responsibilities. It was the two of them that had pushed him to finally go visit Gabriel’s grave; for all that he had been mourning intensely, he had...somewhat actively avoided visiting Gabriel’s burial place since the funeral.

Seeing it would make it real, or something.

There were a thousand decent reasons not to go, anyway; it was back in the US, at Arlington, and Jack was so busy at Gibraltar even when he really wasn’t busy at all that it had been easy to convince himself not to go. It was, he supposed, _time,_ though. A year and a day was too long to go without visiting even once. So he’d booked a flight and a hotel, and there he was, walking through the gates of Arlington and following the small map he’d brought with him to the section where Gabriel had been laid to rest.

On the way, he passed through the section dedicated to those who died during the Omnic Crisis, and caught himself scanning the names on headstones, occasionally tripping over one he recognized.

He would come back to some of those, he promised himself. He had a few day in the States - he could honor _all_ his dead. But Gabriel came first.

He hadn’t brought flowers, or anything; perhaps he should have, but the grave was fairly well covered in them anyway. As much as Jack had been avoiding visiting, clearly others hadn’t; it was...good to see that Gabriel was being acknowledged as the hero he was.

The cemetery was fairly empty; he’d chosen to come close to the end of visiting hours precisely because he didn’t exactly relish the idea of dealing with other people during what was intended to be an intensely private moment. There was a hush over the whole place, but he suspected it could have been full of people and it still would have felt that way. There was a solemnity here, in the midst of the dead.

He sat down, rushing his fingers over the inscription and sighing.

**GABRIEL REYES-MORRISON  
** **MEDAL OF HONOR  
** **CPO  
** **U.S. NAVY  
** **JUN 28 2020  
** **APR 7 2065  
** **NAVY CROSS  
** ******PURPLE HEART**  
**OMNIC CRISIS  
** **UNITED NATIONS OVERWATCH INITIATIVE**

It was simple; empty, almost. US military gravestones always were, and it was the US military that had insisted on burying Gabriel. He’d been _their_ soldier, first, and it seemed appropriate for him to be laid to rest as one even if he’d died on a UN operation.

“Hey, Gabi,” Jack said quietly. “I know it’s been a while, and that I never really stopped to visit, but…” He frowned, guiltily, down at his lap. “I just...I haven’t been dealing with it. How am I _supposed_ to deal with it? Twenty years of knowing that if I look left, you’ll be there, and suddenly you’re just _gone._ What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to do _anything?”_

It hurt to think about. To remember that this was going to be his life, for the rest of his life - there would be no more waking up to his husband at his side, no more late-night strategy sessions that inevitably turned into late-night cuddling if they were left alone, no more arguments that were half-real and half-fond.

“Blackwatch is...I mean, it’s still going - Ana’s taken an active hand in running it, and I think she’s got Jesse backing her up, but he’s...on some kind of outreach mission, to the Shambali. I guess she thought it’d be good for him.” He buried his face in his hands. “Maybe it would be good for me to do something like that.

Get away from Overwatch for a while. Take a sabbatical, officially. I dunno, clear my head, figure out what I want.”

A sad, broken almost-laugh.

“That’s bullshit, I know what I want. I want you back.” He said. “I’d give just about anything for that, to just...see you again. To talk to you, to hold you - there’s so much I want to say, and I can’t say any of it because you’re _gone.”_

He hadn’t cried, not really, except for bitter, angry tears, but here, with it all in front of him, with Gabe’s absence squeezing like a vice in his chest, he broke, finally, and wept.

“Damn it, Gabe!” It wasn’t the old anger, not really, just a pale approximation. “What the hell am I supposed to do? You just...you were just _gone,_ like _that,_ it was just supposed to be a hostage rescue, we’d done a thousand of those.” He pounded a fist against his thigh, shoulders shaking with sobs. “It was supposed to be _simple._ It...I... _damn it.”_

“Oh, Jack.”

At first, Jack wasn’t sure he’d heard anything, because there was no one else there and no reason for him _to_ have heard anything, but then there was a hand on his shoulder, and he tensed, shooting up and spinning around.

For a moment, he wondered if he was dreaming, because...because he _had_ to be. Because Gabriel was dead, he was at Gabriel’s grave, except Gabriel was also standing in front of him, one hand extended, looking slightly startled.

He looked exactly like he had the day he died, wearing his tactical armor over a hoodie and jeans, beanie slightly askew -- it was like Jack was being transported back to the last few minutes before they got on the transport to fly off to Dubai and handle the hostage situation.

Except that wasn’t what was happening, because he was still at Arlington Cemetery, and it was still a year and a day later, and Gabriel was still dead.

He wasn’t _translucent,_ the way ghosts were supposed to be, he was just... _misty,_ and faded, like being dead had washed him out. His eyes were strange, red irises and black sclera, but otherwise it was...it was his husband. The man Jack had spent a year mourning.

“Gabriel?” Jack knew his disbelief was evident in his voice, and he took half a step forward, extending a hand and brushing his fingers against Gabriel’s arm.

He was _solid._ Cold, but solid.

Jack flung himself forward, throwing his arms around Gabriel’s shoulders and burying his face in his husband’s neck. Gabriel’s arms wrapped around his waist, holding him close, and he started sobbing all over again.

Someone more prudent might have asked questions. Frankly, Jack didn’t _care_ how, or why -- all he cared about was that it was _real._ Gabriel was really right there in front of him, was really...was really _back,_ even if it was probably only for a little while.

“I missed you,” Jack sobbed, and Gabriel squeezed a little tighter.

“I know,” he said, quietly. “I could...I could feel it, I guess.” His hands moved to Jack’s shoulders, and he carefully pushed him back, just enough so they were face to face instead of Jack’s being hidden. “I’m..stuck, Jack, trapped between here and wherever I’m supposed to go.” He exhaled. “And I think it’s because you can’t let me go. And you _have_ to let me go - Overwatch needs you. The world needs you. You can’t keep grieving forever.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Jack scoffed.

“Ridiculous about what?” Gabriel asked. “You putting your life on hold to be sad about me dying? That being entirely unfair to the _huge multinational organization_ you’re supposed to be running? You’re going to have to move on eventually. I’m _dead._ ”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Jack said sharply, “you said it yourself, you’re _dead._ You don’t have to pick up the pieces, that’s all...that’s all beyond you, at this point. Meanwhile, I found one of your beanies yesterday, and even after a fucking _year_ it was like getting shot in the chest.” To say the least. Actually, getting shot in the chest might have been easier, all things considered.

“And you think it doesn’t hurt _me,_ to watch everyone I love grieve and not being able to _do_ anything about it?” Gabriel demanded. “Because I’m telling you, _mi cielo,_ it does. I _want_ to be back with you, but that’s not how it works, and you _know that.”_

“You’re here now, aren’t you?” Jack demanded, a little desperately. “You’re talking to me, we’re...we’re touching, and something has been keeping you here; maybe it’s just because it needed to be the...the right moment, or something.”

“The right moment for _what?”_ Gabriel asked. “For me to...what, come back? In a shower of sparkles and magic? _I’m dead, Jack._ You have to let me go. _Please.”_

 _“I can’t!”_ Jack said. “I can’t just...I can’t let you go. I can’t be alone like this, Gabriel. It was always supposed to be the two of us, and then you _died_ and there was nothing I could do.” He stepped away from the apparition, shrugging Gabriel’s hands off, and ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “Tell me you could do it. Look me in the face and tell me that if our positions were reversed, you’d be able to just...get on with your life.”

“I don’t know if I could,” Gabriel admitted. “I don’t know if I could just let you go. But I _need_ you to do this, Jack. I can’t just...linger. I’ll be waiting for you, once it’s our time, but you have to _let me go_ first.”

“I can’t,” Jack said again. “I can’t, Gabe, I just...can’t.” If he had been in front of anyone else, Jack would have been embarrassed that he couldn’t seem to stop crying. Gabriel had seen him at every form of worst, though, it was only fair he saw him like this.

Gabriel stepped forward, reaching out and cupping Jack’s face in his hand.

“I know it’s hard,” he said quietly. “I thought we’d have forever, too. I thought we’d get to retire somewhere warm and sunny and watch the next generation take the lead. But that’s not our story, Jack. Not anymore.”

“It should have been,” Jack said, voice breaking. “Why wasn’t it? Why couldn’t we have that?”

“Because we’re soldiers,” Gabriel said gently. “Because there were people who needed our help, and we couldn’t say no. Because we’re always going to keep fighting to make a better world. I need you to do that for me, Jack. We might not get our warm, sunny retirement, but you can make sure other people do. Just...let me go.”

It was wrong of him, wrong and unfair and terrible, but with the knowledge that his grief was keeping Gabriel’s spirit close, there was a part of Jack that wanted to stubbornly hang onto it. That wanted to hold Gabriel there as long as he could, even if it was just his ghost - but that was the worst, most selfish part of him.

Even if it would hurt, Gabriel deserved to rest. They wouldn’t have that warm, sunny retirement, but Gabriel could at least reap some of the rewards he’d earned in whatever afterlife he went to.

Maybe if Jack was lucky, he’d even be waiting when Jack got there too.

“...One last kiss. Just...give me that, and I’ll try. I’ll try to let go.” Jack said. It didn’t seem like all that much to ask - one last, brief moment, a happier goodbye that he could hold onto. But Gabriel looked stricken, and he was shaking his head, and Jack frowned.

“I can’t give you that, _cariño,_ ” he said. “Anything else - not that.”

“Why the hell not?” Jack asked. There had to be a _reason;_ Gabriel wouldn’t just…deny him that last shred of comfort.

“It’ll kill you,” Gabriel said bluntly. “I’m a dead man, Jack - a dead man’s kiss is never safe.”

“How the hell could you possibly know that?” Jack challenged.

“I just...know. The way I know it’s your grief keeping me here. The way I knew if I focused hard enough I could make you see me here today.” Gabriel took a step back. “Don’t take this the wrong way, _querido,_ but I’m really hoping it’ll be a long time before we’re reunited in death. I want you to have a good, long life, even if I don’t get to be there for it.”

“So you don’t _know_ for sure, you just _think_ you know,” Jack said.

“Jack, I _know,”_ Gabriel said firmly. “Please, just...don’t do this. Don’t risk it.”

Were Jack being honest, he was...alarmingly alright with the possibility of Gabriel being correct. It was true, he supposed, that a dead man’s kiss was dangerous - they had clearly stepped firmly into folklore rules by having Gabriel back at all. A more cautious man wouldn’t have wanted to test it. A more cautious man would have taken Gabriel at his word and assumed that as the actual dead person present, he knew how it worked - that if Gabriel said a kiss would kill Jack, too, it would.

Jack was not a cautious man.

Besides, how many things in stories were solved with true love’s kiss?

Maybe there was a part of him that was willing to hope this was _that_ kind of story.

Jack reached out, gently holding Gabriel’s face.

“Let me have this,” Jack said quietly. Gabriel made a tiny, desperate noise, but when Jack leaned in to kiss him, he leaned in too, meeting in the middle.

It was cold, at first, colder than Jack had expected, and a violent shiver wracked through him. Gabriel started to pull away, but Jack let out a desperate little mewl and pulled him back in.

It wasn’t cold forever.

He felt warmth radiating out starting at their connected lips, but it spread quickly under his hands, and down to all the other points of contact between his body and Gabriel’s.

When Jack finally let go and opened his eyes, Gabriel was no longer faded-out. Or cold. Or any of the things he had been as a ghost. His eyes were still strange, but everything else...everything else looked gloriously _alive._

His breath was coming in heavy little pants - his _breath._

“Gabriel?” Jack asked, barely daring to hope.

“I don’t understand,” Gabriel said quietly, staring down at his hands. “You should be dead. _I_ should be dead. I…”

“I think this is pretty much the definition of a miracle, Gabe,” Jack said. “I…” He let out a tiny, shocked little laugh. “Shit, that’s...not really what I was expecting.”

“You just true loves kissed me _back to life,”_ Gabriel sounded almost reverent in his amazement. “That is the most _fairy tale bullshit.”_ He threw his arms around Jack, pulling him close. “We are having a _conversation_ about you being willing to die to get one last kiss, but we are having that conversation _later,_ you are such a reckless _idiot,_ I love you.”

“I had no idea it would work,” Jack admitted, “I had no idea _what_ would happen - I just...I needed that goodbye.”

“I know, _cariño,_ I think I would have needed it too,” Gabriel admitted. “Fuck, can we...leave the cemetery?” Jack laughed a little, leaning up to pepper kisses all over Gabriel’s face.

“Yeah, let’s get out of here.”

 

* * *

 

 

They were barely through the door of Jack’s hotel room when Gabriel started kissing him again, hard and fierce. Boots were discarded at the door, and Gabriel dropped his beanie as well, letting his slightly messy curls loose.

“I missed you,” Jack gasped between kisses, “I missed you so goddamn much.”

“I know,” Gabriel said. “I wanted to help you, and I couldn’t, but I’m here now.” He leaned in to steal another kiss, backing Jack up towards the hotel room bed. It was a double in a fairly cheap chain hotel; he hadn’t wanted to bother wasting Overwatch money or draw a large amount of attention to his trip. This had been intended to be about him and Gabriel and his grief, not about the media circus that followed him as Strike-Commander.

Now, of course, he was glad for the low profile for a very different reason. No one was going to interrupt him unless it was _urgent_ ; they had all the time in the world.

“I’m never letting you go,” Jack said, falling onto the bed and pulling Gabriel with him. He couldn’t wipe the smile off his face - and he didn’t want to. It felt like the first genuine, real smile he’d worn for a year.

“Not going anywhere,” Gabriel said, sitting up briefly to peel off his gloves and wiggle out of his tac vest. Jack reached up to unzip his hoodie and push it off while Gabriel started working on the button-up he’d worn to the cemetery. “God, I still can’t believe that fucking _worked,”_ he said, shaking his head. “Did you _plan_ on that?”

“Can we just focus on the fact that it worked?” Jack asked, shedding his shirt and tossing it aside and then setting to work on the tight-fitting shirt Gabriel wore under his hoodie.

“Damn it,” Gabriel sighed, but he leaned down to kiss Jack anyway, a long, slow thing that had Jack sighing against his lips.

“I needed you,” Jack said, as if it was a defense, “even if it was just for a moment.” He exhaled. “Dying would have been worth it. This, though? This is much better.”

“Yeah,” Gabriel said, “yeah, it is.” He leaned in to claim Jack’s lips in another kiss, and there was an edge of desperation to the way Jack reached for him, fumbling with his belt for a moment before he found the clasp to get it off. It was a chaotic tangle of hands, then, pulling at each other’s clothes and tossing them off the bed and onto the floor. Once they were both nude, Jack flipped them over so he was straddling Gabriel’s hips, grinning down at his husband.

“Let me show you how glad I am to have you back?” He said, reaching between them to stroke Gabriel’s cock.

“God, _yes,_ ” Gabriel groped around the bed until he found the bottle of lube he’d insisted they pick up on the way back to the hotel, tossing it to Jack. Jack grinned and popped it open, liberally coating his fingers, and then slipped between Gabriel’s thighs, bending down and licking a stripe up Gabriel’s cock from root to tip.

“Fuck,” Gabriel breathed, and Jack grinned, drawing it into his mouth and sucking. “ _Fuck!”_ Jack wrapped a hand around the base of Gabriel’s cock, bobbing up and down and sucking, and moved his lubed fingers around to slowly begin working himself open. “God, Jack,” Gabriel breathed above him, and he glanced up to see Gabe watching with wide eyes, a thin ring of red the only divide between blown pupil and dark sclera.

Jack groaned around Gabriel’s cock, and he felt Gabriel’s hips stutter, fucking into his mouth. Jack grinned and slid off with a wet _pop,_ and sat back, slowly working a third finger into himself.

“Enjoying the show?” He asked.

“Fuck, yes,” Gabriel replied, eyes dragging over Jack’s form. “You look so _good, mi cielo.”_ A grin slowly spread across his face, and he let his eyes very blatantly rest on Jack’s fingers working himself open. “I bet you’ll look even better when you’re riding me.”

“I will,” Jack agreed. He slid his fingers out, lifting himself up and straddling Gabriel’s hips, and reached down to grab the bottle of lube and squirt a generous amount into his palm. He stroked it onto Gabriel’s cock, and then guided it to his entrance, slowly sinking down and taking it in. Once Gabriel was hilted inside of him, he sat, trembling faintly, and waited to adjust to the feeling of fullness.

For a moment, it was overwhelming - having Gabriel back brought a rush of emotion, and Jack didn’t realize he’d started to cry until Gabriel sat up and cupped his face and he realized his vision had blurred with tears.

“You okay, _mi cielo?_ ” He asked, genuine concern in his voice. “We can stop, it’s okay.”

Jack blinked, clearing the tears from his vision, and gave Gabriel a shaky, watery smile.

“I don’t want to stop, I just…” he paused, briefly, considering exactly how to say it. “It’s a lot. I...these are happy tears, probably.” Gabriel nodded, leaning forward and kissing his cheek.

“I get it,” he said, and he pressed his lips to Jack’s briefly. “I’m here, I’m not going anywhere, I promise.” Jack slid his arms around Gabriel’s shoulders, holding him in a long kiss as he started to ride him. Gabriel moaned, hands resting on Jack’s hips and guiding his bounces, and he started meeting Jack’s movements with thrusts up into him. Jack broke the kiss to catch his breath, and then buried his face against Gabriel’s neck, one hand going up to twist in his hair.

“God I missed you so much,” he said, softly, and Gabriel made a noise of acknowledgement, pressing his lips to the side of Jack’s head. He moved his hand to stroke at Jack’s cock, and as soon as he did, Jack felt sparks at the base of his spine, and a tiny little moan passed his lips. He shifted the angle of his hips so Gabriel’s cock hit his prostate, and cried out, back arching with pleasure. A few more thrusts had him coming undone with a desperate cry muffled against Gabriel’s shoulder, and he felt Gabriel follow, though he was much louder.

Gabriel pulled him down onto the bed, curling around him and peppering his face with brief kisses.

“ _Te amo,_ ” he said, “and I promise, I’m always going to be right here.”

 

* * *

 

Jack was a little startled by the ringing of his handheld comm; he wasn’t _expecting_ any calls, and he’d hoped to have a long morning of enjoying that Gabriel was _alive_ before being dragged back into his responsibilities as Strike-Commander of Overwatch.

(Responsibility number one, he ticked off in the back of his head, getting Gabe his job back. Somehow. He’d have to talk to Ana; she’d have ideas.)

“Go see what that is,” Gabe said, a little blearily. “Might be important.”

“Yeah,” Jack acknowledged, reluctantly disentangling from Gabriel and getting up. He sat down at his desk and flicked on the communicator, turning on the holodisplay. It was a little blurry at first, a casualty of what Jack expected was a fairly long-distance connection.

“Jack?” He knew that voice, and Gabe knew that voice too. The holoprojection came into focus properly, and there was Jesse, looking slightly abashed. “Sorry to call so late your time, it’s just, my pickup’s in a couple weeks an’ I thought it’d be prudent to give y’all a bit of a heads up that I won’t be comin’ back alone? Told Ana an’ she said I should really call you, so uh, here I am, sir.”

“....What,” Jack said, rubbing his face. “How ‘not alone’ are we talking, McCree? The short version, please.” Jesse had a tendency to talk a lot - good for getting an in-depth sitrep, not so good when all Jack wanted was to get back in bed.

“...One omnic, a runaway architech, two dragons, an’ three babies?” Jesse lifted up the comm device and turned it, so that the picture showed more people - one of the Shambali monks, a woman whose prosthetic arm and visor certainly _looked_ Vishkar and whose face seemed just vaguely familiar enough for it to bother Jack, and ---

Yeah, those were definitely two men with antlers and scales. All three humans appeared to be holding swaddled babies, and Jack was pretty sure he could see antler nubs on one small head.

“What the _shit,_ McCree,” he said, suddenly very awake.

“It’s a real long story, boss,” McCree said, and Jack was almost certain that barely covered it. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, anyway.”

“After the day I’ve had,” Jack said, “I probably would, actually.”

“Dammit, _mijo_ , I leave you unsupervised for a couple months and you start picking up strays,” Gabriel was out of bed and leaning over Jack’s shoulder, hands resting on the desk on either side of Jack’s arms. The picture swivelled rapidly back to McCree, who was gaping at the screen.

“No way,” he said quietly, “that ain’t possible - _Gabe? Jefe,_ that you? Really you?” Something in the man’s voice pitched upwards, like he was just beginning to hope. Jack could sort of relate - if this phone call wasn’t far too bizarre to be dreamed, he’d be wondering if Gabriel’s entire return was some extended delusion, or something.

“Yeah, kid, it’s me,” Gabriel said, voice gentler this time.

“How in the _hell,”_ Jesse asked.

“Would you believe true love’s kiss?” Jack asked, and Jesse let out a faint, almost hysterical little laugh.

“Y’know, boss, I think I would.”

**Author's Note:**

> As a brief note, the dates on Gabriel's tombstone have been altered because, I confess, when I put then down I wasn't really thinking about the timelining I wanted to do; the altered dates (birth year moved earlier, death date changed from August to April) end up with a timeline that I personally am more happy with. Because I am Weird.


End file.
